An ultra-conservative Islamic seminary that has inspired extremist groups including the Taleban has issued a fatwa against terrorism, in what is believed to be the first edict of its kind.

The Darool-Uloom Deoband, a 150 year-old India-based institution that holds influence over thousands of smaller Islamic schools across the subcontinent, many of which have attracted British students in recent years, issued the fatwa at an outdoor peace conference attended by thousands of clerics and students in Delhi.

The organisation, which condemned terrorism as the “most inhuman crime” has a reputation as one of the global centres of Islamic theological debate. Its base in the northern Indian town of Deoband has become synonymous with dogmatic and violent fundamentalism.

Most of the Taleban leadership attended Deobandi-influenced seminaries based in Pakistan. The movement has been recognised by analysts as a key force behind jihadi madrassas — traditional schools that promote terrorist violence — in several countries, including the UK.

“The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace,” the Darul-Uloom grand mufti Habibur Rehman said in the fatwa.

“Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form”.

Analysts said the move was significant, partly because several previously divided sects chose to ratify the condemnation of violence.

The closely-watched Deobandi group had denounced terrorism in a landmark move in February. “Islam has taught its followers to treat all mankind with equality, mercy, tolerance, justice … all kinds of violence and terrorism in the strongest possible terms,” it said.

Other speakers at Saturday’s event criticised what they termed a “sinister campaign” to malign the “Islamic faith...by linking terrorism with Islam and distorting the meanings of Quranic Verses and Prophet traditions”.

However, some of the largest cheers came from the all-male crowd when the United States and its policies were criticised.

The deputy rector of the Darul-Uloom, Hazrat Maulana Qari Sayed Mohammed Usman, said: “Whenever Christian and American interests are hurt in any part of the world, they take prompt action to set things right even at the cost of human lives. They maintain silence though when Muslims are the victims.” He went on to criticise the US for its support to Israel.

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